RBS customers take to Twitter to complain of card payment problem

FILE PHOTO: The logo of NatWest Bank, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group is seen outside a branch in Enfield, London Britain November 15, 2017. REUTERS/John Sibley/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland’s NatWest brand complained on Twitter on Thursday that they were unable to make debit card payments, with their cards being repeatedly declined.

An RBS spokesman apologized for the inconvenience caused and said debit card payments were now being processed as normal. But at 1240 GMT a number of customers were still complaining on the social media site.

“Is there a problem now?” one customer, Andrew Gibson, asked in a tweet to RBS. “My card was declined via contactless and chip and pin.”

Others said the issue had embarrassed them at check out lines or left them unable to buy lunch.

The RBS spokesman reiterated that the issue was fully resolved. “No customers will be left out of pocket,” he added.

The fault comes after an IT outage at mid-sized British lender TSB, owned by Spain’s Sabadell, plunged the bank into crisis and brought into sharp focus the consequences for customers of lenders’ technology failures.